I am honestly dying to know whose idea it was at 4Kids to take a one-off line from the very first episode about Grandpa’s “heart” being “in the cards” (meaning they had sentimental value for him in contrast to Kaiba) and expand that into some kind of series-spanning religion
Well clearly you don’t believe in the heart of the cards
I came to a really weird conclusion only last year during a rewatch of the series despite being a fan for years.
‘The Heart of the Cards’ may be a ‘corny’ 4Kids thing and I’m not sure how much it was mentioned in the manga and Japanese anime BUT we do know that the original Egyptian tablets in the story are made essentially from the ‘heart’ of the people they came from (I’m talking Blue Eyes and Dark Magician here not giving away spoilers). And you had to power them with your life-energy to use them. All this is inspired in some way with actual Ancient Egyptian mythology (Ka/Ba/Maat - the natural order). So Atem’s constant earnest affirmation ‘to believe in the heart of the cards’ as the ancient Pharaoh is in fact totally spot on as is Grandpa’s, considering he was originally some Indiana Jones type explorer of the Pharaoh’s Tomb.
